Much as I enjoyed the gangster movie thread, I gotta confess I found my posts strayin' from the accepted testosterone-fuelled line more than a little, (now there's a surprise!).

So to make this whole movie thing a little more broad, how about posting some regular reviews of current hot movies? For starters.... has anyone seen Chicago yet? Or howzabout The Kid Stays In The Picture?

I'm keen to see 'em both, but if anyone has some advanced word on either, I'm all ears. I just don't trust them 'professional' critics, see? (Bunch o' bums, the lot o' them).

Sophie
xxx

"Ginger Rogers did everything that Fred Astaire did ... but backwards and in heels"

Top tip, Kylos ... that is one swell site! (Thank God I viewed it courtesy off my employer's super-speedy broadband connection, though. My guess is that I could get a manicure, coiffure and holiday in LA in the time it would take those pages to load at home).

Just makes me wanna see the damn movie all the more, o' course. (Gee.... I wonder if that's what they had in mind when they built the site?)

I took the good lady to see Chicago last week and I must admit, she was not impressed!

I'll leave it to Venus to detail you in but for starters, she was insistent the costume dept. muddled early 1920's style with austere 1930's accessories and even slapped on a little messy 1950's glitz on the much side. I never reckoned Roxie was in the clink for 30?

But their careless recall was nothing, nothing compared to the faux pas of the casting cafones. Ok, Renee Zellwegger was molten lava, but she appeared shiny, soap-headed and anorexic. Catherine Zeta Douglas wasn't cut out for this kind of role, even if her wig wam was. And Richard Gere? He was as hit and miss as a Chicago piano. For a defense lawyer supposed to be sufficiently smooth to sell Christmas Cards in June, his cabaret was tantamount to a hanging offence.

I'm a bit of a movie buff myself so reviews of all kinds of movies would be most welcome on this site. BTW sorry for my absence from the site for a week or so - I had some business to take care of in the big smoke. Good news is the Vegas cd is being manufactured as we speak and should be ready to hit the shops soon.

The last movie I saw was Gangs of New York and I've already posted my review in the gangster movie thread.

Before that it was Lord of the Rings and that was a real eye opener, I can tell you. I knew the Middle East was a medieval, war-torn part of the world but I didn't know they had walking, talking trees out there! Even more worrying is that Lola seems to have joined Venus in taking a fancy to a certain Viggo Mortensen. I can see we're going to have to have a word with these broads G!

Anyone see Catch Me If You Can yet? I'm not a huge Spielberg fan and Leo and Tom Hanks usually leave me cold but the story looks entertaining enough.

Other movies I'm looking forward to:

Spike Jonze's (the guy who directed Being John Malkovich) new one Adaption, Paul Thomas Anderson's (Boogie Nights) Punch Drunk Love and I've heard a rumour on the grapevine that we can expect Ocean's 12 (the sequel to Ocean's XI) from Steven Soderbergh sometime soon.

If we're talking about movies still to come, here's a gentle reminder about ghosts of movies past ....

Anyone ever catch The Iron Giant? Gets better everytime I see it - particularly that awesome Michael Kamen score and a fine beatnik character voiced by Harry Connick Jr., (with no singing - it ain't that kinda movie). And for anyone who thinks that all animated features treat the audience like merchandise-obsessed idiots who are only interested in a ragtag collection of fluffy, kooky sidekicks, you'll be pleased to hear that this one Disnae.

Rent it now before some knee-jerk asshole at Warner Bros gets the jitters about a kids film executive-produced by Pete Townsend and pulls all copies.

I just spent 15 minutes drafting and re-drafting all my faves and STILL can't decide, (damn youse guys and your crazy top tens!). It all depends on mood, genre, etc etc. You got me in a real jam with this one ... and when faced with this kinda quandary I figure the best way out is always to cheat.

So here are my top 3's in my top 5 genres, (no particular order):

Comedy:
Some Like It Hot
The Purple Rose of Cairo
The Hudsucker Proxy

Thriller:
Rear Window
Vertigo
Get Carter

Sci-Fi/Fantasy:
Blade Runner
2001
LOTR/The Two Towers

Musicals:
My Fair Lady
Paint Your Wagon
Sweet Charity

Defying Classification!:
Casablanca
Ace In The Hole
Apocalypse Now (still ain't seen Redux!)

Damn, that was hard!! Ask me tomorrow and the list will be completely different, (Citizen Kane? Touch of Evil? God, the list could be endless!). But Billy Wilder will always feature pretty highly, (could probably make up a top ten from his films alone), and Casablanca will generally be in that all-time number one spot.

As a sideline here ... did you ever see Throw Momma From The Train, Frankie? Great spoof/homage to your number 6 choice and another highly under-rated comedy classic!

Ooh ... and as another sideline, howabout the three best movie opening sequences of all time? For my money, Woody Allen could take all three spots with Manhattan, Purple Rose of Cairo and Broadway Danny Rose ... although Apocalypse Now sure takes some beating on that score too. Or Bullitt. (See what you got me started on now, Frankie?? Damn these lists!).

Manhattan would be close to the top of my list of favourite comedies, Sophie. The wonderful opening sequences of the New York skyline and it's iconic buildings and landmarks ravishingly shot in black and white (reminiscent of Alexander Mackendrick's Sweet Smell of Success, a more cynical, but equally poetic, elegy to NYC) set to the soundtrack of Gershwin lives long in the memory.

Apocalypse Now has a great start too. The sound of the rotating helicopter blades merging seamlessly into the noise of the fan above Martin Sheen's bed as The Doors' The End kicks in (dovetailed with the incredible imagery) is a unique moment in movie history. Redux is well worth seeing as is Hearts of Darkness (the documentary about the making of A.N.). When Apocalypse Now was released I remember going to see it four times in the first week. No movie has ever blown me away like that, before or since.

Another great title sequence is Casino, though the movie isn't a patch on Good Fellas.

The title sequence to Monster's Inc. is particularly fine also (Lola and I had to go and see it with our small nephew ~ well, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!)

1. This is Spinal Tap (Always. Derek Smalls has always been a role model, I especially relate to his feeling like a preserved moose)
2. Wild at Heart (For the love, for the jacket, for the heavy metal and for Elvis)
3. Jesus Christ Superstar (1973 version only. Dangerously funky)
4. Blazing Saddles (In all honesty, I can recite the entire script)
5. The Big Lebowski (“Let’s roll”. Always try to emulate John Torturro’s Jesus character when bowling)
6. Barbarella (Have Exotica levels of this scale ever been equalled ?)
7. Goodfellas (A viewing is similar to catching up with an old friend)
8. Rocky Horror Picture Show (“The transducer – will seduce ya !” Inspired.)
9. National Lampoon’s Animal House (Drinking game opportunities are endless)
10. The Lost Highway (Great style and as for Patricia Arquette – holy wow)
11. From Russia with Love (Best Jimmy Bond flick ? A thread in itself)
12. Breakfast at Tiffany’s (Favourite bit – the cocktail party)
13. The Pink Panther (“There is a minkey ? In your riiim ?”)
14. Eyes Wide Shut (“Plink plink plonk” – THAT piano track, and SO intense)
15. The Warriors (“Sixty thousand soldiers – can you dig it ?”)
16. The Italian Job (With Mrs The Jackal’s real name being Fredrika, the Camp Freddie dapper always gets a chuckle, and Noel Coward is just tremendous)
17. The Cannonball Run (Non stop beer swilling fun and nonsense, with Dean and Sammy stealing the show)
18. High Society (Bing – “you know you’re a brilliant fellow ?”. Frank – “Thank you”)
19. Beat Girl (Had to get a crrrazy 60’s flick in, this sneaked in ahead of ‘Girl on a Motorcycle’ and ‘Blow Up’ on account of the café beat chat – “Take it to the fridge Daddy-o”.)
20. Phantom of the Paradise (Are the boundaries of taste being pushed here ? But it's Brian De Palma !)

Kylos The Jackal wrote:5. The Big Lebowski 11. From Russia with Love (Best Jimmy Bond flick ? A thread in itself)12. Breakfast at Tiffany’s20. Phantom of the Paradise

5) Ever tried watching The Big Lebowski as an allegory for the Gulf War? Seriously ... watch it again.

11) At the risk of precipitating that thread, I'd have to go for the obvious choice with Goldfinger. From Russia With Love may have had more class, but Goldfinger had more sass.

12) Audrey! Those gloves! Them outfits! Ahhhhhh!

20) Hmmm. The strangely intoxicating music of Paul Williams. Not his best soundtrack of course .. for that you have to look even beyond Bugsy Malone until you settle on the glorious Muppet Movie - another fine piece of celluloid that, on another day, may have made it into my top ten. Some of the best bad gags you'll ever hear (not to mention Fozzie Bear's classic first stand-up gig at the "El Sleazo Cafe"), great cast of cameos, (Bob Hope, Orson Welles, James Coburn, Mel Brooks, Steve Martin in one of his best ever appearances etc), and great, great songs. A gem!

Sophie
xxx

Miss Piggy: "Oh Kermit, you bought champagne!"
Waiter (Steve Martin): "Not exactly. 'Sparkling Muscatel' - one of the finest wines of Idaho. Would you like to smell the bottle cap?"